This invention relates to a connector with a shell having an opening for insertion of a mating connector. The connector with the shell will be called hereunder a shell connector.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication (JP-A) No. 2001-93626 discloses a conventional shell connector. The connector comprises a housing holding a contact and a shielding metal shell overlapped on a surface of the housing by a bending process. To the metal shell, a locking member as a separate component is coupled. The locking member is adapted to be engaged with a terminal portion of a mating connector. However, the above-mentioned connector requires a large number of parts and the bending process such as staking or caulking upon assembling. Accordingly, much time and labor are required to produce the connector and a finished product is varied in quality.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication (JP-A) No. 2004-319522 discloses another conventional shell connector. The connector comprises a housing holding a contact and a shielding shell fitted over the housing. The shell has a spring contacting member to be contacted with a mating connector and a tongue member to be ground-connected to a substrate. However, since the spring contacting member is formed by a bending process such as staking or caulking, much time and labor are required to produce the connector and a finished product is varied in quality.
In either case, it is difficult to finish the connector at a low cost and with high accuracy. In addition, high-density mounting is difficult. Furthermore, although a mechanical strength of an outer surface is assured, no consideration is made about a mechanical strength of a coupling portion for insertion of the mating connector. Therefore, if the mating connector is repeatedly inserted and removed for a long period of time, the coupling portion may be worn or the spring contacting member may be subjected to buckling distortion, Sometimes, the spring contacting member is broken. As a result, it is impossible to guarantee high durability and reliability.